Display-hanger.



T. H. BLAOKNALL.

, DISPLAY HANGER. APPLICATION FILED JULY 10, 1911. RENEWED AUG. 21, 1913.

1,090,968, Patented Mar. 24, 19M

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH CXJVASHINGTON. n c.

WlTED STA'liEd PATENT FF1@E.

THOMAS H. BLACKNALL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF T0 HENRY JANSEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

DISPLAY-HANGER.

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, THOMAS H. BLACK- NALL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Display- Hangers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates to improvements in display hangers adapted for use in store and show windows to display goods, cards and other articles suspended therefrom, and it particularly relates to display hangers struck from a single piece of sheet steel, subsequently bent to form a hook at one end and a pair of spring clamping jaws, both of which are struck from the opposite end portion of the blank,

Nhen, as in the prior structures referred to, an example of which will be seen in Letters Patent No. 929,380, granted me July 27, 1909, the two clamping jaws are struck from the same part or end portion of the blank, the centrally located tongue-like jaw necessarily extends generally in a forward direction throughout its length from the point at which it is integral with the body of the hanger, and is therefore so rigid adjacent that point that in springing it to a position for grasping the article to be sus pended this jaw is thereby frequently broken at its juncture with the body portion, and the hanger thereby unfitted for further use, and as will be readily understood by hearing in mind that, for operative purposes, the metal of the hanger is necessarily so highly tempered that it will break under an abrupt bending strain.

The object of my invention, therefore, is a display hanger so struck from a single piece of highly tempered sheet steel that there may be formed therefrom the centrally located clamping jaw in such a manner that it will not be subject to a breaking strain or be broken adjacent the body of the hanger even when the jaw is sprung to the limit of its open position for the insertion between the opposing jaws of the article to be suspended from the hanger.

A further object of my invention is a dis play hanger in which the central spring jaw is struck from the hook end portion of the body of the hanger without substantially weakening the hook for the purposes of its use, and in such a manner that, when the jaw is forced toward the limit of its open Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 10, 1911, Serial No. 637,687.

Patented Mar. 2d, 1914.

Renewed August 21, 1913. Serial No. 786,007.

position, the shank of the jaw, immediately adjacent the body of the hanger, will not be subjected to a strain tending to break the jaw off.

With these ends in view, my invention finds embodiment in certain features of novelty in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts by which the said ob jects and certain other objects are hereinafter attained, all as fully described with reference to the accompanying drawing, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In said drawing :Figure 1 illustrates, in side elevation, a display hanger, with the jaws thereof in their normally closed position. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the jaws in an open position, and clamping be tween them a card. Fig. 3 is a top plan view with the hook of the hanger turned in an upward direction. Fig. lis a plan view of the sheet steel blank, showing the manner of cutting the same previous to bending the several parts to form the hanger; and, Fig. 5 is a cross section on the line 55 of Fig, 2 looking in the direc tion of the arrows.

Similar characters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of the drawing.

For producing a display hanger of my invention a long and somewhat narrow piece 6 of sheet steel is slit along the lines 7 and 8 for somewhat more than half the length of the strip and slit transversely toward one end of these slits to form teeth 9, the opposite end of the strip being provided with a rectangular slot 10, and the outer end of the strip with teeth 11, and there may also be parallel slits l2 and 18 joined at one end by a curved slit 14:, if desired, for purposes hereinafter described.

The slits 7 and 8, and the cross slit, by which the teeth9 are formed, serve to produce a tongue 15, subsequently bent to form a clamping jaw 16, the free end of which projects through the slot 10 toward the op posite end of the blank.

With the exception of a slight bend 17 for a thumb or finger hold, when pressing the jaw to an open position, and a reverse bend 18 for giving direction of the serrated edge of the clamping jaw for its cooperation with the opposing jaw 19, the shank of the clamping jaw 16 is curved throughout its length on difiering arcs of a circle, the shorter and sharper are or bend 21 of which is next the fixed end of the shank. The bond 21, it will be observed continues into a bend 18 in the body of the hanger, the two bends forming substantially a semi circle, with the result that the strain from forcing the jaw 16 to an open position is confined to the bend 21, and thereby removed from the part at which the aw joins the body of the hanger, and whereby there is no liability of breaking the shank at its juncture with the body of the hanger, even when the spring jaw is pressed to the limit of its outward position.

The main body of the shank of the jaw 19 is reversely curved to that of the jaw 16 by a bend 20, at the outer end of which is a short reversed curve supporting the jaw, the general form of the two jaws and the shank being such that the spring jaw 16 projects through the slot to an operative position with the jaw 19, the slot being of suflicient length for the shank of the spring jaw to shift its position lengthwise of the slot, the inner cross wall 22 of the slot serving as a stop limiting the bending away of the spring jaw 16 from the rigid A portion of the outer end of the metal,

. surrounding the tongue 15, serves to form a hook 23 for the hanger by making therein a sharp bend at 24: adjacent the body of the hanger proper, followed by a larger and reverse bend 25 to the form of a circularlike hook, as clearly indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, for suspending the hanger from a pole, pin, nail (not shown) or other suitable suspending device.

As shown in Fig. 1, thejaws of the hanger are in their normally closed position when not in use, while in Fig. 2 they are shown in an open posit-ion clamping between them a card 26, and in which position it will be seen, on comparing Figs. 1 and 2, that the oval-like space between the shanks of the jaws is contracted in Fig. 2 from what it is in Fig. 1, and that notwithstanding this contraction the curve in the metal connecting the spring jaw with the body of the hanger still remains, and thereby furnishes the evidence that the strain due to opening the jaws is distributed throughout this curve, and the spring jaw maintained against a bending force, otherwise tending to break it oif. In other words, by curving the shank of the spring jaw on a line extending into the body of the hanger, the strain is distributed throughout that curve, and thereby prevented from concentrating at and breaking off the end of the shank adjacent the body of the hanger.

The essential feature of my invention finds embodiment in providing a hanger struck from a single piece of sheet steel,

with a spring j aw, the shank of which is curved throughout its length, as distinguished from extending in a straight or substantially straight line, at a point adjacent its juncture wvith the body of the hanger, and preferably by having its curves merging into a similar bend or curve in the body ofthe hanger.

Another feature of my invention, which I regard of substantial importance, is the provision it makes for striking the spring jaw from that part of the sheet steel forming the hook end of the hanger, while retaining in the hook all of the strength and rigidity necessary for its practical use. 7

My invention, however, is not limited to the specific details of construction herein as regard the production of a hanger for similar purposes from a single piece of sheet steel so long as the form-of the shank of the spring jaw is such as to prevent a breaking strain at its fixed end on pressing the jaw to the limit of its outward movement, and i V to an open position for all practical purposes, nor to striking said jaw from the hook end thereof.

In conclusion, it should be observed that while I have described that the hanger of my invention is made from sheet steel, it

will be no departure to form it from steel from which the temper has been drawn, and finally temper it.

Having described my invention what I claim and desire toisecure by Letters Patent is 1. As a new article of manufacture, a dis play hanger, consisting of a single piece of metal comprising opposing jaws, yielding contiguous shanks for both said jaws, the adjacent ends of which shanks are curved on the arc of the same circle with one of them passing through the other toward their opposite ends, and a hook from the opposing members of which, in its entirety, one of said jaws and its shank is struck.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a display hanger, consisting of a single piece of metal comprising opposing jaws provided THOMAS H. BLAOKNALL. [L.s.]

\Vitnesses:

Jno. G. ELLIOTT, F. E. BROM.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner 0: Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

